One more trip down acetone alley.

[Ron Mummert]

After browsing the acetone discussion thread ad nauseum, I decided to put the stamp of approval, or disapproval on the controversy once & for all. That's right, I decided to be the guinea pig in a semi-scientific experiment. I figured since my daily commutes, & shopping trips tend to be pretty repeticious, & my driving stye is mostly conservative (geezerly) that I'd be the poifect subject to put the acetone controversy to rest. We all know bumble bees can fly, despite what them aeronautical engineers argue, right?

So....here's what I did. For a comparison, on a tankfull prior to injecting acetone into the sacrifcial lamb, the '93 Nissan 240SX with 250K+ on it, I drove in an extremely conservative manner. This means I seldom reved past 3000 RPM before shifting into the next higher gear, & used 4th & 5th whenever possible on level roads. I keep the tires inflated 4 lbs. above spec. Instead of cruising at 70-80, I cut back to 60-70 max. The only time I leaned on the pedal was to merge into freeway traffic lest I be mashed by an 18 wheeler. I had filled up with my usual 87 octane at my favorite "cheapie" station, the Wawa in Millersville, MD. The daily temps were in the 65 - 80 degree range. I refrained from using the A/C. Upon fill-up at the same pump after the three-week trial period, the odometer read 357 miles, & took 12.140 gallons. The math says I attained 29.47 mpg.
I'll call this my best & final before the "A" test. I didn't start the test on this tankfull because I knew I'd be changing driving style, as I'd be taking an 85 mile open road trip at an average of 75-80 mph followed by let-it-all hang out day at the auto-cross. After this combo of mixed driving, I got 25.54 mpg, after a 6.28 gallon fill-up after an 8 run auto-X session.

A week or so later, when almost empty again, I went back to the same Wawa station & pump, poured in 4 oz. (30 cents worth) of acetone (the tank holds just under 15 gallons), filled up to the auto-off click as before, and began the same driving style as the trial tankfull. Checked tire pressure - OK. This was on June 5th. Temps were averaging 5 to 10 degrees higher, but I suffered, in the interest of good science, & didn't use the A/C. On June 19th, after pretty much duplicating my extra-conservative putting about town, I went back to the Wawa, same pump, & held my breath. At 378 miles of driving, the blue beast swallowed 12.78 gallons - thats, Holy Crap!! 49 miles per gallon!!!!!! No...wait - hit the wrong calc' button. Hmmm....re-do....uh...that's more like 29.57 mpg, vs. the 29.47 on "straight" gas. Aw, shucks. That barely covers the extra 30 cents.

Conclusion - Snake oil, but not as tasty.

Ron. (gotta try that tornado thingy next!)